Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) 2018 Beijing Summit

Events

03Sep

Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) 2018 Beijing Summit

Time
03 September 2018 - 04 September 2018

Location
Beijing, China

INBAR was one of a number of international organisations to attend the Forum. INBAR representatives met with a number of African heads of state to discuss the importance of bamboo and rattan for regional development.

Bamboo and rattan played an outsized role in discussions at FOCAC. In his opening speech, Chinese President H.E. Xi Jinping announced “the construction of a China-Africa Bamboo Center, to help Africa develop the bamboo and rattan industry” as one of a number of major new Sino-African environmental projects. Significantly, bamboo and rattan are also mentioned in the Beijing Action Plan, which was signed by China and all African heads of state on 4 September. The Plan includes the pledge that China and Africa “will work together to … actively support Africa’s capacity-building in the sustainable management of bamboo and rattan resources” as a means for “poverty alleviation”. A summary of FOCAC’s discussions about natural resources is available here.

INBAR representatives also met with the Presidents of the Republic of Congo, H.E. Sassou Nguesso, and the President of Togo, Faure Gnassingbé, for brief meetings about bamboo’s potential for regional job creation and environmental restoration. A summary of INBAR’s high-level meetings in 2018 is available here.